Kayla McBride has been on fire recently, cementing her place as one of the top long-range shooters in WNBA history, matching a record with Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury. On Sunday at Target Center, McBride connected on seven of her 10 three-point attempts, leading the Minnesota Lynx to an 83-64 victory over the Seattle Storm. She tallied 32 points in the game, with 21 of those coming in the second half, helping the Lynx rebound from a rocky second quarter.
McBride, the WNBA leader in threes made (43) and three-point percentage (51.2%), has hit 15 threes over two games. Taurasi of the Mercury is the only other player to do that, in September 2020 against Las Vegas and Indiana. But she was 15-for-28 in those two games. McBride was 15-for-23.
Informed of this afterward — particularly the fact Taurasi needed five more attempts to do it — McBride smiled.
“Nice,” she said, per Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “But I think she'd (Taurasi) say the same thing.”
McBride's 32 points Sunday were her most in a Lynx uniform and the most by a Minnesota player this season.
“I've said it before,” coach Cheryl Reeve said. “In terms of the confidence, the release, her teammates finding her? I think she's getting easier threes than maybe last season.”
Teammate Bridget Carlton added: “Every time she shoots, I think it's going to go in.”
The win was crucial for the Lynx, who needed a strong bounce-back after a last-second loss to Phoenix on Friday. The win also snapped Seattle's six-game winning streak and improved the Lynx's record against the Storm to 3-0 this season.
Kayla McBride helps Lynx out of shaky second quarter
The game saw a stark contrast between the first and second halves for the Lynx. After a shaky second quarter where they hit only five of 13 shots and allowed the Storm to grab six offensive rebounds, the Lynx dominated the second half. They outscored Seattle 47-23, shooting 50% from the field while holding the Storm to just 30.6%. Seattle is now the sixth team to shoot below 40% against the Lynx this season.
Point guard Olivia Époupa didn't score much but contributed with eight rebounds and seven assists in just over 14 minutes. She assisted Carlton on a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter and then stole an inbounds pass to set up Napheesa Collier for a quick basket at the start of the fourth. The sequence helped the Lynx extend their lead from five to nine points.
Collier finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds and was more vocal on the court than usual, getting into two altercations with Storm star Nneka Ogwumike. The Lynx’s teamwork was evident as they recorded assists on 25 of their 27 made field goals. They currently lead the league in assists per game (24.2), three-pointers made per game (10.6), and three-point shooting percentage (40.5%).
But this night belonged to McBride. To her, this all can be traced back to the end of last year when she hit 20 threes and averaged nearly 20 points over the final four regular-season and three playoff games. Then came an outstanding season overseas.
“A lot more work put in, a lot more games, the shots I'm getting,” McBride said. “I have a lot of confidence in what I'm doing, especially compared to last year. I've kind of found my flow at this point in my career. I'm playing with a lot of joy and a lot of peace. I'm having a lot of fun shooting the ball. I know what this team needs me to be.”
McBride has averaged 23.8 points and shot 55.3% on threes over her past four games as the Lynx remain in the running for the Commissioner's Cup finals.
“It's the people I get to go to work with every day,” McBride said. “This team is special. Since Day 1 the energy has been just kind of different. The chemistry is so organic.”
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